


break the ice (don't break my heart)

by alovelylilt



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Making Out, Partying, Pining, Unresolved Romantic Tension, also there's a lot of swearing in this! just an fyi, and if it wasn't clear from the title:, basically no one is straight but wbk this is canon, big red seblos are gay, but i guess there's some pining involved too?, does this contain references to the cutting edge (1992)? yes indeed, i mean... it GETS resolved but it starts out unresolved okay, kourtlyn are lesbians, lynne is mentioned but just as an excuse to give ricky a little sister, nothing too intense tho!!, okay so this is kind of, ricky ej and gina are bi nini is pan, this also contains chat fic elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24292360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alovelylilt/pseuds/alovelylilt
Summary: Hockey player Ricky Bowen and figure skater Nini Salazar-Roberts have been at each other's throats ever since their teams first stepped onto the ice. Between clashes over locker room space and ice time, races to see who can snag the only left-handed desk in their 9am physiology lecture, and late night drinking game competitions, there has hardly been a moment of peace between the two. Their usual rhythm is broken when Ricky asks Nini to give him figure skating lessons, and then everything's on thin ice from there...---Nini sighs longingly as she glances over at Ricky. "Sometimes I look at him, and I just want to wrap my arms around him and—" She makes an ambiguous motion with her hands."Kiss him?" Carlos supplies helpfully."Snap his neck," Nini corrects.Ricky somehow hears her from across the rink, and he tosses her a smirk and a wink. "Aw, princess, you always know exactly what to say."
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 31
Kudos: 189





	break the ice (don't break my heart)

**Author's Note:**

> -things in my personal life are lowkey going down the drain so here i am writing fic for a mickey mouse show bc at least it makes me happy :// n e ways let's go  
> -i Cannot be stopped from naming my fics with parentheses  
> -full disclosure i completely lifted the left-handed desk and treadmill scenario from a fic i wrote years ago on 5sosff and adapted it to fit this one (every time i mention 5sosff i feel the need to say rip 5sosff bc that really was a treasure trove of great fic writing, but sadly i think something happened to the website and it is just completely gone now)  
> -i took figure skating lessons for like two years when i was in elementary school? and i've never picked up a hockey stick in my life. so like if there are inaccuracies with the figure skating or hockey stuff, pls suspend ur disbelief lmao  
> -most colleges don't have a varsity figure skating team and also i feel like spin the bottle would never be played at a frat party so suspend ur disbelief on those too (the wedding-themed party thing is real tho)  
> -go watch the movie cutting edge after this ugh it's so good (cheesy 90s romcom with ur classic figure skater/hockey player clash when the figure skater has to find a new pairs skating partner and the hockey player suffered an injury and can't go back to hockey so guess what he's going to learn pairs skating)
> 
> notes for the story:  
> -in case it isn't clear, ricky is dicky, nini is nay nay, ej is elton john, ashlyn is high priestess moon, carlos is carLOSING it, seb is yeehaw matthew-smith, kourtney is all love in these kourts, red is red, taylor swift's best album, and gina is gina, not 17, still the dancing queen. these are the same usernames that i used in my other oneshot with chat fic elements! once again, some of these usernames are from social media aus on twitter, so don't give me credit for all of them lmao  
> -they are all in the same grade simply bc that makes it easier fo me thank u next  
>   
> with that said, please enjoy!!

***when ricky and nini stop fighting we’ll finally know peace***

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : they’re doing it again

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : well can they hurry up already i need to pee

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : u wanna go in there and get caught in the middle? be my guest

_all love in these kourts_ : u can be like our little sacrificial lamb or something

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : okay that’s redphobic

_carLOSING it_ : can they just hook up in there already and put us out of our misery

_elton john_ : r u kidding? pretty sure they’d rather die than touch each other

_high priestess moon_ : oh ej my sweet summer child

_elton john_ : huh?

_carLOSING IT_ : when we find them hooking up in the locker room one day then u will all see

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : for now i just wish they’d vacate the locker room so i can PEE

Muffled shouting can be heard even from outside the locker room as Ricky and Nini engage in yet another shouting match. As captains of the varsity hockey and figure skating teams, respectively, perhaps there had always been potential for friction between the two, but Ricky and Nini were known to take it to another level entirely. Allegedly, it had all started when Nini stole Carlos away from the men’s hockey team. Carlos had applied to manage the men’s hockey team in his freshman year to gawk at hot boys and make some money, but he had quickly found greater interest in Seb, who spent his time on the varsity figure skating team. When Nini found out about Carlos’s dance background, she immediately asked him if he’d be interested in taking on a choreographer position with her team. Carlos had agreed easily, knowing that the men’s hockey team probably needed a manager who was more invested in the team anyways, and they were all friends, so there were no hard feelings between him and Ricky, Big Red, and EJ when he left his manager position. 

Of course, the feelings between Ricky and Nini were another story entirely. Ever since then, it had been a never ending stream of showdowns between the two as they fought, ostensibly, for their respective teams— in reality, their best friends were all part of the same group and had always gotten along great. Needless to say, the tension between Ricky and Nini had become a topic of both ire and amusement for their friends.

At the present moment, Nini storms out of the locker room with Ricky trailing lazily behind her. When she speaks, her voice is tight with barely restrained anger. “As you all know, there was a scheduling mixup today. Ricky can’t keep it in his pants—”

“Hey, what the fuck, that’s not fair—”

“SO,” Nini thunders on, “I don’t think it comes as a surprise to any of you to find out that the annoying girl who’s in charge of the schedule _accidentally_ put the hockey team in at the same as us. Because I am benevolent and generous, and also because that girl is a bitch and insists that the hockey team was always meant to practice at this time, we’re going to take the later practice time tonight. Sorry, guys. See you all in a couple hours.” She flounces away before Ricky can snap a retort at her, but he scowls at her back nonetheless. Gina, Seb, Carlos, and Kourtney wave to the rest of them as they, too, exit the rink.

“Why does she have to be so mean?” Ricky huffs, sitting down on a bench with an angry _thump_ as he starts putting on his skates.

“You’re not exactly the nicest person to her, either,” Big Red points out.

“No, I’m not talking about me. I mean, why does she have to be so mean about the girl who’s in charge of scheduling? She’s just following the rules, and the rules say that we were scheduled for this time!”

EJ raises an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t that the same girl who asks you for a pencil every time we have our stats class? Annie or something?”

“Yeah, I think so… come to think of it, she never returns my pencils at the end of class, and I always have to find her at the athletic department’s administration office to get them back,” Ricky muses.

Everyone rolls their eyes. Ricky is the captain of a varsity team, he’s in one of the only respectable frats on campus, he’s a pre-med student who wants to be a pediatrician, and he's good-looking and charming to boot. The love songs practically write themselves, and the fact that he seemingly isn’t aware of his own attractiveness only compounds it all. 

“She’s been flirting with you for months, Ricky,” EJ tells him bluntly.

Ricky gapes at him. “Really? You think so?”

“I know so.”

He frowns. “Well, that still doesn’t change the fact that we were scheduled for this time, so Nini has no right to be mad!”

“Sure, Ricky, sure.” Ashlyn pats him on the shoulder and then turns her attention to the rest of the team. “Alright, boys, let’s get out there!”

After Carlos left the team manager position, EJ had convinced Ashlyn to take over; surprisingly, she had taken to it quite well. Ashlyn’s normally serene demeanor belies an iron will, but her soft heart rules above all else. She runs the hockey team with military precision and motherly care, such that the boys love and fear her in equal measure. Now, she gets a chorus of “Okay, Mom” from her boys as they file onto the rink, and it makes her smile in satisfaction. If only she could dispose of the Ricky-and-Nini situation so smoothly…

* * *

Every morning at 8:45am, Nini can be found rushing across campus in a whirlwind of notebooks, highlighters, and half-eaten breakfast. She’s never been a morning person, which is extremely unfortunate given that the figure skating team frequently has 6am practices. Today is one of those mornings; she arrives at her 9am physiology class in her leggings and athletic jacket from practice, her backpack half-zipped, and a cup of coffee that’s been cold since she set it down on a bench outside the rink with the intention of drinking it later. 

Her eyes narrow upon spotting Ricky seated in the third row, left aisle— it’s the only left-handed desk in the room, and she and Ricky fight over it every morning. Whoever doesn’t have morning practice that day usually wins, so this isn’t surprising to her, but a flash of irritation shoots through her anyway. That irritation grows when she seats herself in the row behind him with a loud huff and he turns back to smirk at her.

“Morning, princess. How’s that right-handed desk treating you?”

“I’m sure I won’t be the first person in history to commit murder before lunch, but I might be the first to do it with a pencil,” Nini returns brightly, waving her writing utensil in his general direction. 

Ricky bares his teeth at her. “We’re supposed to take an oath to do no harm, Nini.” 

“Oh, but we haven’t taken it yet, Ricky. There’s still time for me to kill you before I take that oath and wipe the slate clean.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works—”

“Wow, you guys have already gotten started, huh?” Seb slides in to the seat next to Nini and gestures between the two of them. “Before Brown even gets here?”

Nini rolls her eyes and leans back into her seat, distancing herself from Ricky as much as possible. “He’s always late, Seb, you know that.” 

In true form, their professor shows up two minutes later, spouting profuse apologies for his recurring tardiness. It isn’t a big deal; his students all adore him, none more than Ricky and Nini. Since the world loves irony, Ricky and Nini take most of their classes together as pre-med students; Seb spectates in some of those classes as a pre-vet student and updates the group chat every so often on the newest spat between the two, especially when they get into obnoxious battles in physiology to see who can answer the most questions. 

Halfway through the lecture, after spending far too many minutes pushing her hair out of her face, Nini tries to grab a hair tie from her wrist and finds nothing there. She realizes that she must’ve dropped hers on her way to lecture, so she turns to the girl sitting on her other side, asking if she has a hair tie. Sadly, the answer is no; Nini has no choice but to sit back with a huff and blow yet another strand of hair out of her face.

A hand appears in her line of vision, holding an innocuous but sparkly hair tie. Her eyes follow the hand— long, lovely fingers and calloused palms— up to a face, and she releases a sound of surprise. It’s Ricky. He gestures for her to take it, and she does so without another word, swiftly tying up her hair and ignoring the slight jolt of warmth that runs up her fingers from where she touched his. It’s a thoughtful gesture, which isn’t surprising in and of itself, but the fact that it’s directed at _her_ — Nini shakes her head firmly, dismissing any and all thoughts of Ricky. This is ridiculous; it’s just a hair tie.

Still, that doesn’t stop her from elbowing him out of the way later that day at the gym. She triumphantly snags the only available treadmill, beating him to putting down her water bottle by just a breath. She tosses him a smug look as she starts her pre-run stretch, to which he just rolls his eyes and resists the childish urge to throw his towel at her. Unfortunately, the person two treadmills down from them steps off at just that moment, and Ricky steps on and throws an equally smug look her way. 

Nini doesn’t stick her tongue out at him and calls that a win for herself. However, things only devolve from there. Without a single word exchanged between the two of them, Ricky and Nini somehow end up in a speed battle. Nini ran cross-country in high school, so she knows she’s got an edge over him, but Ricky gives it all he’s got. The person running on the treadmill in between them glances fearfully towards each of them as they continually increase their speeds, their footfalls thundering in the cavernous space of the open gym. 

Nini’s just about to increase her speed again when a loud crash echoes through the gym, startling her to a hard stop as she slams her finger down on the screen to pause the treadmill. She looks to her left and tries her best not to laugh, even as she steps off her treadmill to tend to Ricky. Somehow, he had managed to forget about the heart monitor strapped to his chest and connected to the emergency stop button on the treadmill; in the middle of one particularly enthusiastic sprint, he had accidentally yanked the heart monitor taut and triggered the emergency stop. Now, he lies in a heap on top of his treadmill, with his ego more bruised than anything else.

“Hey there, hotshot,” she greets him dryly. 

His response is muffled into the treadmill. “Hiya, princess. Would you mind turning around and purging your memory of the last thirty seconds?”

“I think I would mind a little bit, yeah. I need something amusing to think about the next time the judges tell me to _smile more, sweetie_ , so I’m gonna keep this memory in my back pocket, okay?” Nini can’t help it; she dissolves into giggles. He looks so silly and forlorn, just star-fished out on the treadmill.

He musters enough wherewithal to draw himself up into a sitting position and glare at her. “This is not funny, Nini.”

“You have to admit that it’s at least a little funny,” she chortles.

Something like a pout comes to his lips, and she has to stop herself from reacting to it. With his curly hair wild from his fall, one of his knees drawn up to his chest while his other leg extends out along the length of the treadmill, and his eyebrows furrowed and lips pouting, he looks like the picture of a kid who just fell off his bike for the first time. It’s adorable, and Nini’s not entirely immune to it. 

“Help me up,” he demands, extending a hand to her with that damn pout still on his lips. 

Nini clamps her own mouth shut to refrain from letting out anything incriminating, like a sound of endearment, and takes his hand readily. She should’ve expected his next move, which is to pull her down with him like the asshole that he is. She ends up sprawled in his lap, closer than she’s ever been to him before. An angry admonishment is right on the tip of her tongue, but her words die in her throat as she meets his eyes, which are crinkled at the corners with amusement. He laughs loud and bright at the way he’s managed to trick her into falling down, and this would normally incense her even further, but something about the way he has to shut his eyes from laughing too hard makes laughter bubble up from her throat, too. It’s not long before they’re both in near hysterics, studiously ignoring the strange looks they get from other gym-goers.

“God, this is so dumb,” he says finally, wiping at the corner of his eyes, wet from when he’d laughed hard enough to induce tears.

“This is your fault,” she points out, still giggling softly. She doesn’t know what it is— stupidity, or impulsiveness, or boldness, or the lovely way he looks when he’s laughed himself silly— that prompts her to reach out a hand to swipe away the remaining tears that had tracked down his cheeks. She _does_ know that his skin is softer than she’d expected, which really just begs the question of why she had ever held any expectations about what his skin felt like in the first place, but that’s neither here nor there. 

“Thanks,” he murmurs, low and soft in a way that sends shivers down her spine. 

She’s too warm, and this is all too much too fast, so she scrambles to her feet in an abrupt, ungraceful motion. “Um! I should, you know, get going.”

“See you later—” Ricky cuts himself off; Nini’s already gone.

* * *

***the cutting edge cinematic universe***

_nay nay_ : so i think i’m coming down with a fever

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : oh no what happened??

_nay nay_ : idk i just got really close to ricky (long story) and then i felt really warm so i left and now i think i probably have a fever right like what else could it be

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : … gee i wonder

_carLOSING IT_ : have u considered the fact that every time ur around ricky ur blood pressure goes up and so does ur temperature and maybe there’s a reason for that

_nay nay_ : i mean yeah bc he’s so annoying

_all love in these kourts_ : nini he’s really not that bad

_nay nay_ : KOURTNEY UR SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND NOT TO MENTION THE MANAGER OF THIS TEAM HOW COULD U SAY THAT

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : #NINI: TREASON

_nay nay_ : YEAH

_all love in these kourts_ : gina do not encourage her

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : sry u know i have an anti-hockey agenda

 _gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : ricky ej and big red get passes bc they’re too dumb for me to be an anti for them

_nay nay_ : valid and also SAME

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : n e ways does anyone wanna rewatch ice princess before practice tmrw

_nay nay_ : SEB HOW COULD U

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : #NINI: TREASON

_all love in these kourts_ : okay 1) gina STOP encouraging her 2) nini just bc ricky decided to call u princess after we forced him to watch ice princess doesn’t mean that the movie is tainted forever 3) gina ur anti-hockey agenda doesn’t even apply to the men’s team tf

_carLOSING IT_ : oh yeah don’t u have like weird beef with the women’s hockey team captain

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : first of all it’s not weird beef

_nay nay_ : second of all SHE JUST HAS A CRUSH AND DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH IT HAHAHA SORRY GINA BYE

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : f in the chat for nini. she’ll be dead the next time i see her bc i am going to k-word her

_nay nay_ : ur going to kiss me? that’s so soft i’m babie

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : can u fucking read i said ur going to be dead after i k-word u

 _gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : how would u be dead if i kissed u

_nay nay_ : idk i believe in ur power

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : ur cute nini but i only want to kiss the women’s hockey team captain ahahahaha BYE

* * *

It’s a Friday night and Ricky’s frat is throwing a party, as always. His frat mostly consists of hockey players and the occasional lacrosse or golf player; they’re generally pretty nice guys, which Nini has always appreciated. The lack of female-dominated social spaces on campus is atrocious (sororities aren’t even allowed to throw actual parties that are open to campus), but she supposes that if she had to go anywhere for a good time, she’d come to this frat house.

Music pounds throughout the house; it’s some EDM mix selected by EJ, no doubt. It’s serviceable as something to dance to, but Nini’s got her eye on the game of pong in the back. She doesn’t even have to wait in line to play, because Ricky’s on table; everyone knows that when her and Ricky get within the vicinity of a pong table and each other, it’s no holds barred. Even Ricky’s partner leaves at the sight of her. 

“How’s your ass?” she asks mildly.

Ricky misses a shot and swears, turning around to face her. “What?” he squawks. 

She smiles prettily, sweet as can be. “Bruised? Sore? You know, after you fell flat on it the other day.” 

He scowls at her, reaching out to flick her forehead gently, which she dodges with ease. “I fell face-first actually, so my ass is fine. I thought you’d remember it more clearly, princess.”

“Don’t worry, it’s imprinted into my brain. Just wanted to make sure you remembered, that’s all. All that body checking out in the rink destroys brain cells, you know?” Nini takes the pong ball from him and lines up her shot, a satisfied smile curving her lips when it lands cleanly in one of the cups across the table. 

The two random freshmen standing at the other end of the table take one look at Ricky and Nini and scurry away, making Nini laugh as she takes up the recently vacated spot and sets up a new game of pong.

Ricky smirks at her. “You’ve gotta stop terrorizing the freshmen, Nini. Or at least terrorize them in less frequent intervals.”

“Whatever. Same deal as always, hotshot.”

“Are you guys playing for morning practices again?” Kourtney shows up at Nini’s shoulder, looking unimpressed. Gina and Big Red are close on her heels, drawn in by the potential of another Ricky/Nini smackdown. The rest of the hockey and figure skating teams aren’t far behind. 

“Yep. Loser takes all the morning practices for a week.” Nini smiles winningly at Kourtney. “I’m doing it for the team!”

“You’re doing it because you’re annoying,” Kourtney scoffs.

Ricky grins widely at Kourtney. “I second that!” 

She just rolls her eyes at him. “You’re annoying, too, Ricky.”

EJ claps Ricky on the shoulder. “You got this, buddy! I mean, I don’t really care since I wake up at 5am to go running every morning anyways, but who’s counting?”

“Thanks, man, that means so much to me.” Ricky’s response is dry, but he smacks a kiss onto EJ’s cheek anyway, laughing when EJ pretends to wipe it off.

“When you guys are done fawning over each other, can we get back to the game?” Nini pointedly juts her chin out at the cups. 

“Aw, princess, didn’t think you’d be so eager to lose.”

“In your dreams, hotshot.”

20 minutes later, Nini fumes quietly as Ricky celebrates his win. 

“So, I guess dreams do come true, huh?” His grin is insufferable; she’d like to wipe it off his face. A thought pops into her head— she could do that with a kiss. Her next thought is to call herself crazy for thinking that in the first place.

“You’re so fucking annoying! Is it so hard to show a little humility? The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know. Can’t you grasp the concept that the sun doesn’t shine out of your ass? I mean, I guess it’d be hard when the world showers you in everything you want, and you don’t even have to work for it. God, I hate you sometimes,” she spits out instead, spinning on her heel and walking away as fast as she can. She misses the look of genuine hurt that flashes across his face, and she certainly doesn’t see the way he physically reels back and crumples a little bit in on himself. 

Half an hour later, Nini’s feeling more than a little guilty for how she snapped at Ricky. She’s also halfway drunk, which is what she attributes to her willingness towards getting drawn into a game of spin the bottle. It’s the epitome of a cliche, but it was EJ’s idea, and he let it slip earlier to Nini that he’s planning on rigging it so that Gina finally has a chance to make out with Simone, the women’s hockey team captain. Nini joins the game to make it believable that EJ isn’t scheming; she hopes Gina knows that they’re being great wingpeople for her right now.

The bottle lands on EJ and Ricky first, and the two of them have a good laugh about it before exchanging a kiss. 

Ricky grimaces as he pulls away. “Still too much tongue, Caswell.” 

“Still? What do you mean, _still_? You’ve kissed my cousin before?” Ashlynn gawks at Ricky from where she’s seated on a loveseat with Kourtney, their legs tangled together and their fingers intertwined.

EJ shrugs, exchanging mischievous grins with Ricky. “Yeah, this was before you became our manager, Ash. We’re good-looking guys who spend a lot of time seeing each other shirtless, so we figured we’d give it a shot.”

“And?” Ashlyn’s still gawking. Everyone else is intrigued, too; Nini’s ashamed to admit that she’s listening with rapt interest. Not because of EJ and Ricky— while that’s amusing and all, she’s really thinking about what it’d be like to kiss Ricky. She’d love to _stop_ thinking about it, but Ricky’s still talking about kissing.

“Well, EJ kisses with too much tongue. And we’re better off as bros, so that was the end of that.” Ricky high-fives EJ’s extended hand. 

“Wait, _I_ was your manager back then!” Carlos exclaims. “I can’t believe I missed that.”

Ricky raises an eyebrow. “I think you were too busy making eyes at Seb at the time.”

Seb shrugs and grins from where he’s curled into Carlos’s side. “Probably, yeah. I was making eyes back, though, honey.” He kisses Carlos’s cheek, and Carlos beams back at him. 

“Okay, okay, enough mushy shit!” EJ yells, spinning the bottle once more. 

“This is so unsanitary,” Nini remarks to no one in particular. “Like, this whole game is just a petri dish for germs.”

“That’s true of every frat party, Neens.” Big Red offers her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as he sits down beside her. “Saw you and Ricky get in another fight earlier. You know I love you, but that was a little harsh, don’t you think?”

She winces. “I mean… yeah, okay, you’re right. I feel bad about it, alright?”

“And?”

“And… and I feel bad! That’s it!”

“Oh, Nini. If you feel bad, maybe you should apologize to him.”

Nini screws up her face in a displeased expression. “I don’t know if I’d go that far, Red…” 

He hums, noncommittal, and pats her shoulder one more time. “I know you’ll do the right thing, Nini.”

She just groans and turns her attention back to the game. Sneaky little shit, he _knows_ she’ll apologize now, after he’s invoked morals. She tells herself that she’ll get around to it eventually; for now, she’s just going to have a bit of fun, maybe kiss someone, and then go to bed in that pleasant state of tiredness that comes from drinking just the right amount. 

Thanks to EJ, the bottle eventually lands on Gina and Simone; whoops go up around the circle as the two share a sweet, almost shy kiss. Nini winks exaggeratedly at Gina when she sees her take Simone’s hand and draw her into a quiet corner to get to know her better, and Gina sticks her tongue out at Nini behind Simone’s back. Gina looks flushed with giddiness, though, so Nini counts that as at least one good thing coming out of this night. 

She’s just about ready to leave the party when the bottle lands on her. She rolls her eyes good-naturedly, but she can’t deny the jolt of anticipation that shoots through her as she watches the bottle spin again; it’s been a while since she’s kissed anyone, and she’s kind of looking forward to it. 

Of course, because the world is unkind and whatever deities exist hate her, the bottle lands on none other than Ricky Bowen. 

His eyes are wide in shock and something that looks a little like hurt when he looks at her; she squashes down the guilt that rises in her at his kicked-puppy look and reminds herself that this is not the right venue to apologize. Instead, she raises her eyebrows at him in a silent challenge. He gets the message easily enough— competition is the most natural language between the two of them, and neither one of them has ever been known to back down. 

Ricky gets up from his position on the couch across from her and strolls over to her, his gait purposeful. She swallows hard at the way his eyes have darkened and his tongue darts out to wet his lips, and then he’s _right there_ in front of her, tall and imposing. She eyes him curiously as he kneels down so that they’re eye-level from where she’s sitting on a beanbag chair. 

“Hey, princess.” His tone is mocking, but still so, so warm. His hands slide over her knees to rest on the tops of her thighs, and then he pulls her forward so that her legs are bracketing his chest. 

Nini’s heart pounds loudly in her ears; the world feels like it’s moving at half-speed, and her line of vision has narrowed to just Ricky, who’s saying something terribly teasing about morning practices and left-handed desks. She’s focusing so hard on the way his lips move and the warmth of his hands on her legs that she can barely process his words. Finally, she snaps, “Are you going to keep talking or are you going to do something actually useful with your mouth?”

Ricky flashes her a vicious half-smirk, half-grimace, and mutters something that sounds like _you have no idea what I can do with my mouth_ before he’s kissing her, hot and furious. She can tell by the way he’s gripping her thighs that he’s still upset over their fight from earlier and how she’d just walked away from it. She would apologize, and goddamnit she’s _planning_ to, but she’s too preoccupied with the slide of his lips against hers at the moment. She would’ve expected him to be a messy, impatient kisser, but no; Ricky kisses slowly and luxuriously, like he’s committing her to memory with every press of his lips. His motions are soft and languid as he coaxes her mouth open, and it’s not like it takes much to do so— Nini feels like she’s almost vibrating with the need to know what he tastes like, to know him inside out. It’s an absolutely frightening notion to her, considering how she was boiling with anger at him just an hour ago. Still, that doesn’t stop her from sliding her hands into his stupid, perpetually messy hair. Her fingers catch on a couple of loose curls and she tugs gently, taking smug satisfaction in the way he groans into her mouth and pulls her closer with the hands on her thighs, encouraging her to lock her ankles behind his back. 

“Whoa there, get a room!” EJ’s loud hoot breaks them apart, flushed and panting. 

“Please, he wishes,” Nini responds, but her voice is obviously uneven. 

Ricky responds in a similar fashion, his voice hoarse and his eyes still blown wide with— what, lust? Residual irritation about their fight from earlier? Nini isn’t sure. Neither is he.

“You guys are so hot-and-cold, jeez.” EJ shakes his head. “Whatever, who’s next?” 

As EJ continues the game and draws the attention away from them (bless his heart), Ricky gets up off his knees and retreats back to the couch across from Nini. She spends the rest of her time at the party with her lips still tingling from the ghost of that kiss and studiously avoiding Ricky’s gaze, which is trained on her with startling intensity. It’s a relief when she can finally go home and fall asleep, but she dreams of messy curls and spinning bottles. 

* * *

***no thoughts just hockey***

_elton john_ : oh my god i thought i was wingmanning for gina i didn’t know i was wingmanning for u too rickster but DAMN i’m good

_high priestess moon_ : i hate to say it but ej’s kinda right…….. ricky that kiss was kinda hot ngl

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : the only hets who deserve to kiss in public!

_elton john_ : neither of them are straight tho

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : yeah but it’s the vibes of it all u know what i mean?

_elton john_ : no not at all<3

_dicky_ : i have no comment other than thank u ashlyn 

_high priestess moon_ : did u like it tho

 _high priestess moon_ : ricky?

 _high priestess moon_ : oh my god u totally liked it

 _high priestess moon_ : RICKY

* * *

***when ricky and nini stop fighting we’ll finally know peace***

_high priestess moon_ : call me crazy but i think ricky and nini BOTH enjoyed that kiss 

_carLOSING it_ : i’ve been carrying rini nation on my back for so long…….. is this what it’s like to finally receive instead of giving all the time

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : okay wbk ricky’s had a crush on nini since like freshman year

_elton john_ : yeah but she hates him

_all love in these kourts_ : and then he fell into the trap of giving back what she dishes out

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : het behavior is so Not it…….. imagine how tired we are

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : u guys think u have it bad? i have to watch the ricky-and-nini show every other day in physiology. ALSO GINA HOW IS SIMONE

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : stay strong king

 _red, taylor swift’s best album_ : but yeah HOW IS SIMONE

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : pls dsnfjsndjf i got her number after we kissed (thank u ej btw ur the only bitch i trust in that house) and we’re gonna get ice cream tmrw after her practice :DD

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : omg i’ve never seen u use :DD before i’m so happy for u gina!!!

_high priestess moon_ : GO GINA UR SO POWERFUL

_all love in these kourts_ : what u deserve gina!!

_carLOSING IT_ : this is so cute omg we can have triple dates now

_elton john_ : i’m single but rub it in my face why don’t u

 _elton john_ : red do u wanna quadruple with them

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : with u? no<3

  
 _elton john_ : I’M UR ONLY OPTION IN THIS GROUP

* * *

On Monday, Nini’s determined to track down Ricky and 1) apologize, 2) give him back the hair tie he let her borrow, and 3) maybe ask him what the hell was up with that kiss? 

She has morning practice because of the pong game, but when she enters her 9am physiology class, she finds the left-handed desk open and Ricky sitting in the next seat over. Cautiously, she hovers over the left-handed desk. “There isn’t, like, a whoopee cushion hidden somewhere here, is there? Or gum or something?”

Ricky shoots her an unimpressed look. “Do I look like I’m five years old?”

“Sometimes,” she snipes back, but it’s missing most of the usual heat her retorts have. Guilt still churns in her stomach for the way she’d blown up at him at the party after he’d won fair and square. Well, guilt and some strange swoopy sensation she can’t identify. She blames it on the cold coffee she’d been drinking. 

At the end of class, Nini looks around in her pencil case for the hair tie she’d borrowed from Ricky last week, but it’s nowhere to be seen. She blows hair out of her face with an irritated sigh, resigned to the fact that she’ll have to make a stop at CVS to buy extra hair ties for herself _and_ Ricky.

Like a bad movie on replay, a hand appears in her line of vision again, holding an innocuous hair tie; it’s purple this time, with a little unicorn pendant attached to it. Nini looks up and sees Ricky, which isn’t shocking so much as it is annoying. He just _has_ to be helpful all the time, while she hasn’t even apologized for how mean she was a few days ago. 

“Take it,” he orders. When she doesn’t react, he makes an exasperated sound in the back of his throat and reaches out to grab her hand, unfolding her fingers from where she’d been holding on to her pencil case. He drops the hair tie in her now open palm, and then he neatly tucks her fingers into a fist over the hair tie. All she can think about is how large and warm his hand is; his palm swallows up her curled first as he gives it a pat, almost like an encouragement. 

“Thanks,” she says faintly. “Um, can I talk to you after practice?”

Ricky raises his eyebrows at her. “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing. But yeah, of course. I’ll see you later?”

She nods and then he’s gone, leaving her behind with a purple hair tie in her fist and that damn swoopy sensation in her stomach.

Seb eyes her apprehensively. “You okay, Neens?” 

She startles out of her reverie. “Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just zoned out a bit. You wanna come to CVS with me?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t, I have a meeting, but Kourtney mentioned that she needed to go earlier today in the groupchat, so you could try her?”

“Will do, thanks Seb!” 

Twenty minutes later, Nini and Kourtney are in the aisles of CVS, browsing the beauty section.

“Hey, what do you think about this color?” Kourtney holds up a brick red bottle of nail polish.

“You’d rock any color, Kourt,” Nini responds loyally.

Kourtney rolls her eyes good-heartedly. “I mean for the next competition, Nini. I’m thinking jewel tones, fall colors, that kind of thing, you know? For the costumes, makeup, and everything else.”

Nini shrugs. “I trust whatever vision you have, Kourt. I do really like the red, though.”

“What have you been staring at that row of hair ties for?”

“I borrowed two hair ties off of Ricky, so I’m getting him a pack as a replacement, but his were all… sparkly, and the last one had a unicorn on it. I don’t think they sell those here,” she sighs, grabbing a pack of brown hair ties and a pack of multicolored sparkly ones. “This’ll have to do, I guess.”

“Speaking of Ricky… wanna talk about that kiss?” Kourtney doesn’t even try to hide her smirk.

“Nope.” Nini pops the “p” in the word and smiles innocently back at Kourtney.

“C’mon, Neens. Did you enjoy it?”

“I haven’t been with anyone in a while, you know that. The bar for enjoyment is low.”

“That’s not a no!”

“Whatever!”

That night, when she’s waiting for Ricky’s practice to finish up so she can give him the hair ties and hear whatever he needs to say to her, Nini lets herself wonder about the possibility of Ricky Bowen. He’s not an unknown entity by any means, but she’s never allowed herself to think about him as anything other than the guy she butts heads with every other hour, never allowed herself to think about how adrenaline buzzes through her veins every time they gear up for another blowout, never allowed herself to think about how that very same adrenaline had been mellowed out into something softer and slower by the feeling of his mouth against hers.

“You look constipated,” Carlos greets her bluntly.

Nini scrunches her nose at him and sniffs haughtily, “I was _thinking_ , thank you very much.”

“Okay, your thinking face looks constipated.”

She whacks him on the shoulder and then asks, “What are you even doing here? Our practice was this morning.”

Carlos grimaces. “EJ and I have to work on our stats project together.”

“You’re in that class, too? That’s like, a third of our friend group.”

“Annie’s in it, too.” He nudges her shoulder, grinning slyly.

“Annie as in the girl who’s in charge of scheduling for the rink?” Instantly, a scowl etches its way across Nini’s face.

Carlos grins. “You know, Ricky didn’t even know her name until EJ brought it up last week?”

“So? What does Ricky have to do with anything?” Nini spits out, too quick and too defensive.

“I’m just saying, Neens, he doesn’t pay attention to anyone other than you. And I think you like it, deep down. I think it’s why you guys get into arguments so often— it’s like watching little kids on a playground, annoying each other for attention.”

Something has shifted inside Nini ever since that kiss, enough that she’s willing to allow Carlos to broach this topic more fully than ever before. “I dunno, he’s just… confusing. Like, I was so mean to him at the party, and he doesn’t seem like he’s mad at me for it. And I get it, you know? I’m not stupid. I know he lets me get away with being way more cruel to him than he deserves, I just… I don’t know _why_. And you know I hate not knowing.” She sighs longingly as she glances over at Ricky. "It’s like, sometimes I look at him, and I just want to wrap my arms around him and—" She makes an ambiguous motion with her hands.

"Kiss him?" Carlos supplies helpfully.

"Snap his neck," Nini corrects. 

Ricky somehow hears her from across the rink, and he tosses her a smirk and a wink. "Aw, princess, you always know exactly what to say."

Heat rises up Nini’s cheeks, and she deeply regrets ever starting a sport that forces her inside a cold rink, where she can never blame the weather or the temperature for making her blush. Nope, that would just be Ricky. Carlos hadn’t been so far off in his cheeky comment; Nini hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss from the party ever since Ricky’s lips left hers. There was just something about the way fire had spread from his lips and his hands to every part of her body in a slow, relentless sweep of heat and something deeper, something like longing or maybe regret; something about the way he had been angry but still so gentle with the way he had traced his tongue along the seam of her lips, bashfully asking for permission when there was nothing bashful about the way his hands gripped her thighs. 

“Anyways.” Nini clears her throat. “The urge to snap his neck has been decreasing, I guess.”

“And the urge to kiss him?” Carlos wiggles his eyebrows at her and dodges her swat to his shoulder.

“Baseline of zero, as always. Don’t you have stats to do?” she snipes.

“Don’t you have Ricky to do?” he returns, laughing and leaping off the bench, away from her threatening gesticulations.

Ricky glides to a stop in front of Nini, resting his arms against the barrier. “Hey. You got your skates?”

“Sure, why?”

“We had the last practice for the night, so no one else is supposed to be on the rink. Wanna do a couple laps with me?”

“I thought you had something to ask me.”

“I do. I figured it’d be safer to do it on a surface where I know I can escape from you if you decide to get snippy with me.” He smirks at her, and she knows he’s joking, but it just reminds her of how she still has to apologize.

“Don’t cry when you can’t outskate me, hotshot.” She laces her skates quickly and steps into the rink.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, princess.” And then they’re side by side, moving in tandem, silent except for the sound of their skates cutting into the ice.

“Oh, by the way.” Nini takes the pack of sparkly hair ties out from her pocket and tosses it in his direction, managing to nail him in the head with it. She barely suppresses her giggles at the shocked look on his face.

“Jeez, Nini, maybe you should play hockey with that aim,” he grumbles, stopping to pick up the hair ties and then catching up with her.

“This rink isn’t big enough for the both of us,” she quips.

“Yeah, speaking of that…” Ricky grimaces as he shoots ahead of her and comes to a halt, holding up his hands to stop her from going further. “I have a favor to ask, and it’s going to sound crazy, but just hear me out, okay?”

“Uh, sure?”

“I have a figure skating gig in two months, and I obviously need to learn how to figure skate. Will you teach me? I can’t really pay you, but I’ll trade you all the morning practice for the whole two months, plus the left-handed desk in physiology!” 

Nini gapes at him. “So that's why you gave me the desk this morning? You were softening me up! Wait a second, _you_ have a figure skating gig? Why? How?”

“I’m an international man of mystery, Nini,” he reminds her loftily. “This is part of the mystery.”

“You’ve never been out of the country, Ricky.”

“I’ve been to Canada!”

“That’s not what I meant— hey, what the hell, you’re distracting me!” Nini narrows her eyes at him. “What exactly is going on here? Me teaching you how to figure skate sounds like a bad joke, or an even worse prank. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see you fall on your ass in figure skates, but I don’t exactly have a ton of time on my hands to waste.”

“It wouldn’t be wasted, I told you I’d take all your morning practices and give you the left-handed desk, didn’t I?” he snaps.

She blinks, taken aback. “I was just joking, Ricky.”

“Yeah, and I suppose you were just joking at the party, too?”

She winces. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to apologize for that—”

He snorts. “Right, whatever. Will you do it or not?”

She bites her lip, hesitating. On the one hand, she still feels bad about how she’d treated him at the party, and if he’s offering to give up the desk and the morning practices, it’s not a bad deal. On the other hand, she’d obviously have to spend more time with him in order to teach him how to figure skate, and she doesn’t want Ricky Bowen to take up any more real estate in her mind than he already does. In the end, guilt wins out. “Yeah, okay, fine. There isn’t much free time in the schedule for this rink, though, so where would we go?”

He fidgets a bit. “I have a place we can go. I’ll text you the address and some times, okay? Thanks for this. Really, I appreciate it a lot.”

She just nods, unsure of what to say. She’s been on the receiving end of plenty of teasing, arguing, and general bantering from Ricky, but gratitude is a new one. 

“See you soon!” he shouts over his shoulder, skating away from her.

“See you,” she mumbles. What had she just gotten herself into?

* * *

***when ricky and nini stop fighting we’ll finally know peace***

_elton john_ : lmfao u will never guess what carlos and i just overheard

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : nini’s teaching ricky to figure skate? yeah wbk nini already texted the figure skating gc

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : and ricky texted the hockey gc so like who was this supposed to be news to

_elton john_ : we need to get new friends or expand this friend group or something i’m tired of never having exciting news anymore

_carLOSING IT_ : i’m gay

_elton john_ : i said NEWS carlos

_carLOSING IT_ : okay so that was at least exciting? oh ej sry but ur just not my type

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : thank god bc otherwise i’d have to do some thinking about how ej and i could be the same type

_elton john_ : WHEN I FINALLY GET AN S/O THEN U WILL ALL SEE

_all love in these kourts_ : N E WAYS how about the fact that nini’s still confused over what “figure skating gig” ricky could possibly have

_high priestess moon_ : lmaooooo u mean he hasn’t told her that it’s for his little sister’s figure skating show?

_all love in these kourts_ : nope i guess not

_high priestess moon_ : well are u gonna tell her?

_all love in these kourts_ : nah it’s funny watching nini work herself up trying to figure out how ricky has managed to “worm his way into MY world” her words not mine

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : kind of offended he didn’t ask ME to teach him how to figure skate tbh

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : pretty sure he’s trying to do double duty with being a good big brother and spending more time with nini

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : ohhhhh yeah that makes sense. lmfao good luck to him bc nini’s a brutal coach

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : who needs exciting news when there are new developments in the ricky-and-nini show am i right or am i right

_high priestess moon_ : see u say that now and then u complain about them in physiology

  
 _yeehaw matthew-smith_ : THEY’RE SO ANNOYINGGGGGG LAST WEEK RICKY KEPT MAKING PAPER AIRPLANES TO THROW AT NINI AND SHE KEPT BALLING UP PIECES OF PAPER TO THROW BACK AT HIM. AT ONE POINT SHE ALMOST REACHED FOR MY NOTES TO THROW AT HIM

* * *

Between hockey, figure skating, and the pre-med student course load, Ricky and Nini don’t find time to get in a rink together until the weekend. On Saturday, Nini meets him at a community rink halfway across town, where she finds him wincing slightly as he bends his knees and flexes his ankles in a pair of new ice skates, getting used to the unfamiliar feel of stiff leather.

She whistles sympathetically, gesturing to his feet. “You’re going to have some pretty nasty blisters from breaking those in, but I can give you a few tips later.”

He raises an eyebrow at her. “Figured you’d want me to be in as much pain as possible, but thanks, Nini, I’ll take you up on that.”

She rolls her eyes at him. “I don’t actively wish for your demise every second of the day, you know.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

She knows the barb is warranted, but she still bristles at it. “Do you want to learn to skate or not?”

“I know how to skate!” he splutters.

“Not like this, you don’t. C’mon, hotshot, get in there.” She gestures to the rink. “Show me what you’ve got.”

“Please, like it’s hard or something?” He steps onto the ice and pushes forward, gliding easily. The blades are different, the boot is different, and it’s a whole new center of gravity to get used to, but it’s not so bad. At least, that’s what he thinks until he tries to pick up speed and finds himself tripping forward and then tumbling down, colliding painfully with the ice. 

Nini’s laugh echoes in his ears as she glides to a stop in front of him. “Toe pick!” she exclaims, sounding far too gleeful for his liking.

“What?” he grumbles, getting back on his feet.

“Toe pick.” She kicks up a foot to point to the little teeth near the front of the blade on her skates, which are entirely absent from his usual hockey skates. “You’re going to end up on the ice again if you keep skating like you’re playing hockey.”

He crosses his arms and pouts, petulant. “Okay princess, so teach me.” 

Nini firmly ignores the small burst of fondness that blooms in her chest at the sight of his pout and spends the next hour teaching him to get used to figure skates. Ricky’s a damn good skater and he picks up on the nuances quickly, so it’s not a laborious task by any means. More than that, she actually finds herself enjoying his company, at first admiring his perseverance even through his many falls, and then she gets drawn in by his boyish smile and easy charm. Part of her wants to hate this— what, she spends five minutes alone with him and she’s smitten? As if she’d ever be so silly. And yet, it’s just… _easy_ , the way their normally snarky back-and-forth transitions into witty banter, the way he grins huge and unabashedly when he gets the hang of a certain move, the way her smile is just as big when he gets it because she’d been the one to help him get it. There’s something lighter than joy that bubbles up in her as she watches him discover the beauty of the sport she loves right before her eyes; he’s child-like and delightful on this Saturday morning, relearning how to live and breathe on ice in the way she does. 

By the end of their scheduled time on ice, Ricky’s mostly moving smoothly again, though he still finds himself tripping over his toe pick occasionally. Every time he does it, Nini sing-songs “Toeeeeeee pick!” at him, until the words have ceased to hold any meaning for him. When he tells her as much, she quirks an eyebrow at him.

“What do you mean? Have you never seen The Cutting Edge?”

He shakes his head as he unlaces his skates and pulls them off, wincing at the feeling of blisters already forming. “Nah, what’s that?”

Her mouth falls open in completely unexaggerated shock. “Ricky, c’mon, you’ve gotta be kidding me, right?”

“No?”

“Oh my god, no. Absolutely not, this is a tragedy.” She shakes her head and pulls him up, ignoring his faint complaints about his feet. “We’re going over to mine and I’m going to introduce you to the cinematic universe of The Cutting Edge. It’s terrible, but so terrible that it’s good, you know? I’ll even buy some ice cream and we can veg out and everything, okay?”

He eyes her warily. It sounds like a damn good way to spend his Saturday afternoon, but he’s still a little suspicious— Nini’s not normally so keen on hanging out with him alone. “You’re not still feeling bad about what happened at the party, are you?” he asks.

Nini drops his hand like she’s been burned. “Actually… yeah. I’ve been feeling pretty shitty about it ever since it happened, and I’ve been meaning to apologize, for real. I didn’t mean what I said to you. Everything you’ve gotten… it’s been deserved.” She swallows hard. “You’re good at what you do, Ricky. With the hockey team, and everything… they adore you and respect you, and for good reason. You’re a good leader, you’re plenty humble, and you’re a good person, too.”

Ricky just blinks at her, speechless at the sincerity and softness behind those dark brown eyes. Nini Salazar-Roberts has been a mystery to him for almost as long as he’s known her, and while they had spent copious amounts of time yelling at each other in the past, he’d never seen her so clearly like this. For all that his friends have teased him about having a crush on the formidable, stunning figure skating team captain, he’d never paid much attention to it— after three years of that constant _I like you I like you I like you_ thrumming underneath his ribcage, it had become an afterthought. Just another fact of the universe: Nini Salazar-Roberts despises Ricky Bowen on a bad day and holds complete disdain for him on a good day, and Ricky Bowen gives as good as he gets, but he’s still got a crush on the pretty girl who skates like she’s from another world. To have Nini compliment him, repeatedly, earnestly, and to his face… He feels like he’s back on ice in figure skates for the first time again, tripping over air and waiting to collide against the cold, hard ice; off-kilter and completely off-balance. 

“Thanks,” he finally croaks out, his voice paper-thin and dry as a desert.

She just shrugs nonchalantly. “I meant it.” 

Ricky thinks it might be strange— hanging out with Nini, one-on-one, under no duress. But he follows Nini in his car to the place she shares with Gina, Kourtney, and Ashlyn, and he’s not one to look for meaning where it doesn’t exist, but there’s just one parking spot left when he gets to her place, and it feels right when he fills up that empty space. It’s just a parking space, sure, but something in him warms at the thought that he fits nicely into Nini’s life like that.

There are far too many movies in _The Cutting Edge_ series, and Ricky falls asleep on Nini’s shoulder halfway through the third one. This comes only after hours of murmured commentary on the movies, dozens of minuscule movements on both of their parts to sit closer together on the couch, and three searing points of contact: shoulders, knees, and his fingers in her hair. At some point between the first and second movie, Ricky’s hands had gotten restless, and he’d casually asked Nini if he could braid her hair. She’d only given him a startled look and the go-ahead, and then she spent the rest of the second movie trying not to react to the gentle, deft movements of his fingers through her hair.

Now, Ricky’s head rests solidly on Nini’s shoulder, comforting in its weight and slightly ticklish in its curliness. Before she knows it, her eyes are drooping shut, too, and she allows herself to lower her head on top of his before she drifts off to a sleep filled with dreams of toe picks and Ricky Bowen’s smile.

* * *

The next time they’re at the community rink, Ricky is skating circles around the little kids who are still loitering around after their lessons. One little girl seems to be particularly taken with Ricky; her delighted squeals echo throughout the rink as he spins and spins and spins, just to make her laugh. 

Nini knows she’s early— way too early, like 30 minutes early— but she’d woken up jittery and buzzing with the kind of energy that can only be dispersed through the blades of her skates. She’d hoped for some free skate time when she arrived at the rink, but there’s something about seeing Ricky getting along so well with children that makes her glad she’s here to see it instead. 

“You’re really early!” he exclaims, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of a turn. 

She lifts one shoulder and drops it, trying her best to exude nonchalance. “I was in the neighborhood?”

He smiles knowingly at her. “I know where you live, Nini. I’ve been there before, remember? It’s like, 20 minutes away. This is not in your neighborhood.”

“Well, if you really must know, I just woke up with a lot of energy and I needed to skate it out,” she sniffs haughtily. A British accent has seeped its way into her pronunciation, and she winces at it. She’s flustered, and it shows. 

Ricky’s smile turns into a smirk, mischievous but fond. “Alright princess, whatever you say. It’s okay to admit that you like spending time with me, you know.”

She throws him a half-hearted dirty look, with barely any heat to it. Truthfully, the past week has been nothing short of lovely; she gets to sleep in every morning and use the left-handed desk every time they have physiology because of the deal between her and Ricky, and their interactions in class have even been friendly; imbued with warmth instead of wired with frustration. Every time she comes up empty when she reaches for a hair tie, his hand appears in her line of vision, offering the latest sparkly hair tie with a whimsical charm on it to her. Even when they go back and forth on answers in class, it feels a little like flirting, and Nini’s not sure whether she likes it or not. 

“Ricky?” The little girl who Ricky had been entertaining tugs on his hand. “Who’s that?”

Nini blinks rapidly at the little girl, waving awkwardly. “I’m Nini. I’m Ricky’s, uh, friend?”

Ricky laughs at her stilted speech. “Yeah, she’s my friend. Sweet pea, you wanna say hi?”

The little girl beams at Nini. “Hi! I’m Penelope, but you can call me Pia! Only Ricky’s allowed to call me sweet pea, though.”

“Yeah?” Nini sneaks a glance at Ricky, who’s smiling warmly down on the little girl. “He’s special, huh?”

Pia nods furiously. “Ricky’s the best big brother in the whole world!” 

_Ah, big brother_. The pieces are slowly coming together for Nini.

Ricky’s smile grows wider at Pia’s words. “Aw, sweet pea, you’re the best little sister in the whole world! But I have some stuff to do with my friend, so can you hang out for a bit before Mom comes to pick you up?”

“Of course! I’m almost 8 now, silly. I can do anything!”

“Anything, huh? What about this?” Ricky bends down and points to Pia’s braids, which have come undone at the ends.

Pia smiles sheepishly at him. “Can you fix them for me?”

“Sure thing, sweet pea.” Ricky deftly rebraids her hair, and then he pulls two sparkly hair ties off of his wrist and ties off the braids. Once he’s done, he pats the top of her head fondly and sends her out of the rink.

“I didn’t know you had a little sister,” Nini remarks.

He shrugs. “Yeah, you and me both.” She opens her mouth to ask him what the hell that means, but he forces a light-hearted tone and barrels on. “You didn’t think my braiding skills and never ending supply of sparkly hair ties came from nowhere, did you?”

It’s Nini’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. You surprise me a lot, Ricky.” It’s true— ever from the start, Ricky Bowen has been surprising her. He had flirted with her unashamedly when they first met, and then when they started fighting over rink time and locker space and all sorts of other team-related stuff, he’d surprised her with how much he cared about his team. Later, she learned that he wasn’t afraid to stand up to her when she was being unreasonable, and that had surprised her, too, especially given that he still flirted with her occasionally. It’s been three years now, and although the flirting has died down, he still butts heads with her with as much fervor as ever before. More often than not, she goes overboard, overwhelmed with a fierce, protective instinct for her team, but he never picks up on that particular bait. Instead, he’ll just walk off and cool down, and when she makes brusque attempts to apologize, he accepts without another word. That, too, surprises her. 

“We’re still early, but I figured I could show you the routine I’m trying to learn for this figure skating gig.” Ricky gets out of the rink and leans against the bannister with her, his left arm pressed up against her right arm in a steady line of warmth. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and shows her a video that looks suspiciously like small children practicing an end-of-year show. 

“Is that… Pia?” Nini points at a small brunette girl; she’d recognize those hair ties with the unicorn charms on them anywhere.

“Yeah, isn’t she great?” Ricky smiles goofily at his phone.

A gentle warmth infuses Nini from the inside out; Ricky clearly adores his sister, and Nini is far from immune to the effects of seeing a cute boy getting along well with children. It’s charming, irresistibly so, and Nini has to stop herself from letting out a sigh at the memory of Ricky braiding PIa’s hair. 

“Anyways, usually they have some of the older kids participate in the younger kids’ show, but one of the older boys broke his ankle a couple weeks back, and Pia told me about it, so I offered to sub in.”

“ _This_ is your figure skating gig?” Nini giggles. “This is… adorable, Ricky.”

He pokes her in the side playfully. “I’m very cute, yes.”

“Well, based on how you were skating last time, I think you’ll be able to get the hang of this in a week or two. You won’t be up to competition standard, of course, but you’ll make Pia proud, all the same.”

He pouts at her. “ _Hey_ , you never know, I might be so good at this that I’ll switch sports and take your captaincy!”

“Yeah?” She smirks. “I’d like to see you try. I’d kick your ass on the ice any day.”

“You know what I’d like to see? You on hockey skates.” Ricky laughs to himself. “Toe pick this, toe pick that. Get some pads and a helmet and grab a stick, princess. Let’s see who’s kicking whose ass.”

The idea is intriguing. She raises an eyebrow and hums thoughtfully. “You know what? You’re on. I’ll stop by at the rink after your hockey practice on Monday, and we’ll settle this.”

* * *

***do u think the zamboni guy is hot be honest***

_elton john_ : ur never going to believe this

 _elton john_ : no like actually this is exciting news u guys

 _elton john_ : i mean ricky and nini already know obviously

_carLOSING IT_ : who changed the gc name

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : me i wanna know what everyone’s thoughts are bc i’m a solid yes

_carLOSING IT_ : i mean if ur into facial hair i guess

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : see usually i’m not but idk there’s something about the zamboni man that really does it for me

_elton john_ : VERY GOOD POINT GINA

 _elton john_ : SPEAKING OF MEN

 _elton john_ : I HAVE EXCITING NEWS FOR ONCE

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : go on ej we’re listening!

_high priestess moon_ : speak for urself i’m not

_elton john_ : ANYWAYS. ricky thought it’d be fun to have nini put on some hockey gear since she’s been teaching him to figure skate and stuff and lemme tell u our girl has sick aim

_nay nay_ : oh my god

 _nay nay_ : oh my god seriously no

 _nay nay_ : ricky i’m so sorry

 _nay nay_ : r u okay???

_dicky_ : oh yeah no worries i’m great super good very chill

_elton john_ : lmfao he’s still recovering but he’ll be fine neens

_nay nay_ : i’m coming back with ice!!

_dicky_ : don’t come back

 _dicky_ : nini PLEASE do not come back

 _dicky_ : seriously don’t

_nay nay_ : what? why?

_elton john_ : he’s nursing his wounds AND his pride nini

 _elton john_ : which reminds me i never even got to finish telling my EXCITING NEWS

_all love in these kourts_ : please for the love of god get on with it before i mute yall

_elton john_ : so ricky and nini are doing their back and forth “bet u can’t do this princess” “oh just wait and see hotshot” blah blah blah whatever

 _elton john_ : and then rickster gets nini worked up enough to WHACK her stick at the puck and again lemme tell u our girl has sick aim

 _elton john_ : she nailed it

 _elton john_ : straight into his nuts

_dicky_ : yes okay thank u ej for that alliterative description

_elton john_ : u got nailed in the nuts ricky don’t try to use big words on me

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : HAHAHAHAHA

_dicky_ : can someone please show me some SUPPORT

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : no<3

_carLOSING IT_ : no<3

_all loves in these kourts_ : no<3

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : no<3

_high priestess moon_ : no<3

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : no<3

_elton john_ : this is the funniest thing that’s ever happened to me

_dicky_ : IT DIDN’T EVEN HAPPEN TO U

_nay nay_ : I SAID I’M SORRY ARE U SURE U DON’T WANT ME TO COME BACK WITH ICE

_dicky_ : NO IT’S FINE UR PERFECT DON’T WORRY OKAY BYE SEE U LATER

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : …… crickets

* * *

***the cutting edge cinematic universe***

_all love in these kourts_ : he said UR PERFECT

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : !!! i love love!!!

_nay nay_ : hold up LOVE???? i caused him bodily harm

_carLOSING IT_ : love is a battlefield nina

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : and she’s gonna win<3 btw can u kiss him before finals i have a bet going on with ej

_nay nay_ : u and ej are BETTING on us?!

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : u said “us” :D i love love

_carLOSING IT_ : we all saw that kiss at the party nini u cannot tell me that u don’t want to do it again

_nay nay_ : … and what about it

_carLOSING IT_ : I NEVER LOSE

_nay nay_ : idk ricky’s been kinda… great lately

_all love in these kourts_ : he’s always been like this nini u just had ur i-hate-the-hockey-team blinders on for too long

_nay nay_ : AND WHAT ABOUT IT

_all love in these kourts_ : ur so mf annoying

 _all love in these kourts_ : proposal to kick nini out of the gc. benefits would be i’d suffer less from watching the ricky-and-nini show. losses would be i’d lose insider access on the ricky-and-nini-show.

  
 _nay nay_ : the what now

* * *

Ricky brings his little sister with him to their next two figure skating lessons, and Nini grows to be absolutely enchanted with the girl.

When Ricky complains about the two of them teaming up against him, Pia just declares that “Boy drool, girls rule!”

Nini nods emphatically, her features arranged into the picture of utmost solemnity. “She’s right, Ricky.”

Ricky whines some more, but he’s really just pleased to see his little sister getting along so well with Nini. Although Nini had seemed somewhat awkward around Pia at first, she’d quickly warmed up to her, and now she asks about Pia every time she sees him. On her part, Pia talks Nini to Ricky every time he sees her, too, chattering away about the new figure skating trick Nini had taught her or how pretty Nini’s hair is. Ricky agrees wholeheartedly each time; Nini’s hair _is_ really pretty, and her skating had been the first thing that had ignited his crush on her. The way she moves on ice is unlike anything he’s ever seen; ethereal and unbound by any earthly matter, effortless and dream-like. 

The more he gets to know her, the deeper his crush grows, until he’s not sure that such a flippant label is correct anymore. By some unspoken agreement, they’d started hanging out outside of just skating, and he buzzes with anticipation for every moment they spend together, whether they’re arguing or skating or joking around or studying or just existing, side by side. She gets the cutest scrunch in between her eyebrows when she’s concentrating hard on something, and he just wants to kiss it, like, all the time. He wants to kiss _her_ all the time, point-blank, and sometimes he thinks she might want it, too. Sometimes her gaze flits around his face and lands on his mouth for longer than could be classified as an accident, and he’ll hold his breath, wondering if she’s about to put them both out of their misery and just do it. 

“Honestly, you didn’t need the two months,” Nini remarks, breaking him from his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“For Pia's show? You didn’t need the two months to learn the routine. You’ve got it down pretty good now. Not up to competition standard, of course, but let’s not go there again.” They both wince at the memory of Nini whacking a hockey puck at Ricky.

Still, he smirks at her. “Yeah? Why don’t you show me how you’d do it, princess?” 

“Sure, if you insist. Try to remember that I’ve been doing this my whole life, Ricky, so don’t feel too bad about yourself.” She glides out into the center of the rink and mockingly blows him a kiss, and he pretends to catch it and hold it to his chest, eliciting an eye roll from her and a tiny, delighted smile for which he’s too far away to see.

She goes through the motions of his “routine”, and even though it’s elementary stuff to her, she still looks as magical as ever to him. When she’s done, he claps and cheers as if she’d just won the Olympics, and Pia does the same from the stands.

Nini grins at the praise and curtseys dramatically, and then she waves Pia onto the ice and guides her through some fancy footwork that Ricky’s eyes are too slow to comprehend. He’s content to just watch them laugh and spin around, cheerful and playful on this Saturday morning. As Pia’s high-pitched giggle echoes throughout the rink from some joke Nini has just told her, Ricky’s own smile grows on his face, and his heart expands ten sizes. Yeah, Nini’s definitely some kind of magic.

* * *

It’s another Friday night, and Ricky’s frat is throwing another party. Nini’s here because all her friends are here, and Carlos and Seb are supposed to be getting “married” at the wedding-themed party. At least, that’s what she tells herself. Maybe she’s here because she’d like to kiss Ricky again, but that thought is not getting any oxygen if she can help it.

“Hey, princess.” Ricky sidles up next to her; speak of the devil. 

“Hi.” She tips her head at the collection of champagne bottles, duct tape, and scissors lined up on the counter in front of them. “When are we getting this party started?”

“Soon as the grooms are done taking shots, I suppose. Are you participating?”

She wrinkles her nose. “I suppose. I don’t really like champagne, though.”

“Oh, I know. You complained about it the last time we had one of these parties. I got some of that peach moscato that you like so much, instead. It’s in the fridge right now, but I’ll grab it when everything gets started.”

“Everything” refers to this wedding-themed party; when Carlos and Seb emerge from wherever they are and recite their fake vows and finish off their first bottle of champagne, everyone else will pair up and get a bottle of champagne duct-taped to their enjoined hands. Once the bottle is finished, Carlos and Seb will come around and cut them free. This particular party game is a thinly veiled attempt to get drunk and maybe hook up with your partner, but it’s a fun time nonetheless. Nini doesn’t like champagne, but she’s competitive by nature, and she loves being the first couple cut apart. There have been a couple times in the past when she’s raced against Ricky and his partner, and that always gets her blood pumping. 

Now, however, she finds her cheeks already warming and her heart skipping a beat at the idea that he remembered her distaste for champagne and got her a different bottle, instead. It’s thoughtful in a silly, frat boy way, but he’s thoughtful in many other ways, too. When she’s feeling wound up tight and ready to take off like a rocket, fueled by all the stressors of a particular day, he’s always there with a hair tie, a silly joke, a sly quip, or a skirmish on the rink. It’s astonishing to her when she realizes that Ricky Bowen has been woven intimately into the threads of her existence for so long, in ways that she never appreciated or even acknowledged. Even when all they’d done was argue, every argument had returned her earthward for a time, reminding her of the smoothness of the ice underneath her blades and the steadiness of the strength in her bones. The weary march of the days has forced tension into the set of her shoulders, tight and strained from carrying so much perfection in every line of her body out on the rink and so much certitude in the rest of her life. She lives her life as if everything she does must be unimpeachable, and even then she still feels like she’s barely holding on to the edge of greatness. Sometimes she thinks she might just combust from how much it takes to maintain it all, but then she’ll argue with him, and even though the arguments are hardly life-altering, they make her remember that she has much more in her. She has much more strength to draw upon. She has the fortitude and the capability to meet each challenge, even if the challenge is just a curly-haired boy in a sweaty hockey uniform. 

“Nini?” He nudges her, a little concerned by how long she’s been swimming in her thoughts. “They’re getting ready to start out there, if you still wanna participate.”

“Oh yeah, let’s go.” Her hand shoots out to grab his before she can overthink it, and then she thinks of nothing but the warmth and the roughness of his palm against hers until their joined hands are duct-taped around a bottle of peach moscato. 

“So, I know you like to win these things, and I do, too, so what do you say we wipe the floor with these losers?” Ricky’s other hand points to the rest of their friends and at least a dozen or so strangers, who are all in the process of getting duct-taped together.

“You and me, a team? They won’t know what hit them.” Nini winks at him, and all of a sudden he’s breathless.

When Carlos and Seb throw a makeshift bouquet of plastic flowers into the crowd, the game begins. Nini and Ricky win easily, so easily that she complains about having no competition and makes Ricky grab another bottle of peach moscato for them to share. He doesn’t comment on the fact that there’s no need for them to be holding hands now, since they’ve already won and have been cut apart. Instead, he just leads her up to the third floor, where it’s quieter and the air is clearer. The faint stench of beer still invades every molecule, but it’s almost bearable up here. 

“I don’t know how men live like this,” Nini declares. 

“Me neither,” Ricky agrees. He’s immensely grateful that he, Big Red, and EJ rent a place off campus instead. 

“Why are we up here, Ricky?” Nini turns wide, curious eyes on him.

He points to the end of the hallway, where there’s a large window seat tucked away in a nook. “I figured it’d be nicer to drink up here than down there. Easier to talk, too, if you want.” He smiles shyly at her, and she beams back at him. 

Suddenly, she breaks free from him and runs down the hallway before flopping ungracefully down onto the window seat. She cradles the bottle of peach moscato to her chest and waves Ricky over. “What are you standing all the way over there for? C’mere, hotshot.” After half a bottle of peach moscato in just a few minutes, Nini’s in that pleasant state of drunkenness where her tongue is a little loose and her body is going a little numb with warmth. It’s just enough to make her affectionate and giggly with Ricky, who’s goofy and flirty in his buzzed state himself. 

He falls into place next to her easily, crowding her against the window with a toothy grin and sparkly eyes. There’s already warmth in her veins from the alcohol, but a newfound heat spreads through her as he settles into her side, letting his head rest on her shoulder like that day he’d fallen asleep on her couch. He’s lined up with her from shoulders to knees, and their legs tangle together at the other end of the seat. Something hums underneath her skin everywhere she’s touching him; she’d like to say it’s lust, but it feels more like fondness and syrupy sweet softness for this silly, wonderful boy beside her. He’d forced his frat brothers to buy a whole case of peach moscato, just because he remembered that she’d made an offhand remark about her dislike of champagne at one of these events. He braids his sister’s hair and keeps hair ties on his wrist for her; hell, he’s learning figure skating for his little sister. He smiles at Nini like she’s the sun, when she mostly feels like the moon— melancholy and distant from everyone else. She thinks _he’s_ the sun: his radiance touches people everywhere he goes, and he makes her feel like a summer’s day— light and breezy, sun-kissed and carefree. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, princess?” Ricky turns his head on her shoulder to blink up at her. 

“You,” she replies truthfully. 

He blushes furiously. “What about me?”

Her shrug jostles his head on her shoulder. “I think I missed out on you, all these years. We could’ve been friends much sooner, but I couldn’t get my head out of my ass.”

“Hey, at least it’s a nice ass,” he tells her solemnly. Two seconds later, he dissolves into giggles. “Nah, but seriously. What was your deal with me? In the beginning, I mean. I’ll admit that anything after the first couple of interactions is as much my fault as yours. But…” He hesitates. “Why didn’t you want to give me a chance?”

Nini takes a huge gulp from the bottle in her hands and then passes it to him. “I like rules,” she says simply. “I like rules and morals and straight paths to follow, because everything’s easier that way. If I have a set of rules and morals to follow, then all the other background noise and interference chatter that surrounds hard decisions fades away. To me, the most important of those rules and morals is fairness. It’s kind of why I want to be a doctor, you know? We treat everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done; if you’re my patient, you’re going to get the utmost care I can give you. Maybe that isn’t fairness in the strictest sense, but it makes sense to me.”

“I’ve never heard you talk about it like that, Nini. It sounds… really admirable,” he murmurs. He abandons the bottle on the floor below and takes her hand instead, playing with her fingers studiously as he speaks. “Keep going. I like learning about how you see the world.”

Nini blushes at his words; he speaks with such simple, straightforward sincerity that she can’t even interject with a protest about how she’s not all that great. “Anyways,” she clears her throat, “You wanted to know why I didn't give you a chance. You’re about to think I’m a real hypocrite, Ricky Bowen.”

“Maybe. Won’t change how I feel about you, though.”

Nini’s heart leaps into her throat, and she hovers between asking him what he means by that and continuing her own explanation. In the end, cowardice wins out; she doesn’t think she could handle learning how Ricky feels about her— not like this, not when they’re pressed together so close, not when his fingers are tracing whimsical patterns on her palm, not when his eyes are this wide and warm, filled with gentle curiosity and what looks like desire.

“You’re on the hockey team,” she begins. “You’re on the hockey team, and I’m on the figure skating team, and we’ve both been doing this long enough to know which team gets more money, attention, opportunities, anything. You know how the stands are packed for your games? We get less than half of that. And, no offense, but our winning record is much better than yours. But you guys… you get _everything_. New uniforms, coach buses, extended rink time, bigger lockers… everything. And it’s not that you don’t deserve it, and it’s not like it’s your fault, but it’s just so _unfair_. I came in to practice on that first day of freshman year and saw your old captain lording it over my captain’s head, and I couldn’t help it. I hated all of you. I got over it, eventually… but with you, well, we started arguing the first day and we haven't stopped since. Now it just feels like something we do, you know?”

He makes a forlorn sound in the back of his throat, and it vibrates through her. She shivers and hopes he doesn’t notice it, but of course he does— he’s practically melted into her side, after all. “I get it, Nini. You guys deserve much better. And I’m sorry I got all up in your face that first day. I never liked my old captain anyways, but you were painting us all out to be just like him, and I dunno, I couldn’t take that lying down.”

“No, don’t apologize for that!” she exclaims, sitting up and forcing him to straighten up, as well. “I like how you always gave as good as you got, Ricky. It wasn’t fair for me to generalize you guys all like that. I certainly learned how wrong I was after becoming friends with Red and E.J.”

“And me?” he asks quietly.

“And you,” she agrees easily. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still think I was right in most of our arguments, but I know I was extra hard on you for reasons that you have no control over. And I have to admit… I kind of respected how you always stood your ground. At least, until I went overboard, and then you’d just take the higher ground and walk away. Sometimes I wish I could do that.” She looks down into her lap, fiddling with her own fingers.

He closes one large, warm hand over hers and tilts her chin up to his level with the other hand. His eyes are steady on hers when he speaks. “You care deeply, Nini. There’s no need to change that. Ever. It’s one of the things I like most about you.”

“One of?” She doesn’t know when her voice got so breathy, or when the oxygen around them got so scarce and so heated.

“You’re stunning, Nini. On ice, in life, with your attitude and the way you see the world… all of it. Stunning. So much that it hurts, sometimes.”

“Oh,” she breathes out, uncertain now. “I’m sorry?”

He shrugs minutely and rolls his eyes, a hint of his normal cheekiness resurfacing. “Nah, I kinda like it.”

And then he’s pulling her close with the hand he has clasped over hers, bringing their joined hands to his chest and bringing her into his lap. She barely remembers to take a breath before his lips are on hers, warm and inviting instead of hot and furious like the last time they kissed. But he still kisses her slowly and luxuriously; every slide of his lips against hers makes her head spin, dizzy with the lush, intoxicating way he kisses her, as if time only exists to count down the space between each kiss. She thinks he would probably taste like peach moscato, sweet and bubbly and oh-so-addicting, and she just wants _more, more, more_.

“You can do more than this,” she whispers, in between kisses. 

“Hmm?” He pulls back to look her in the eyes; his own are blown out with desire and affection, and it’s a dangerous combination that makes her stomach flip and her heart flutter.

“At that party. During spin the bottle? You told me I had no idea what you could do with your mouth. So show me.” 

His mouth drops open, and her stomach twists at the redness of his lips, which is entirely her doing. “You remembered?”

“Yeah, and what about it?” Nini’s gaze is defiant but embarrassed at the same time. She’s not about to tell him how long she’s spent thinking about that kiss.

“Well, okay then,” he murmurs absentmindedly, and then he’s surging forward to kiss her again, open-mouthed and full of intent. Her hand on his chest grabs a handful of his shirt and _pulls_ , earning her harder kisses from him, almost bruising in their force. A tiny moan tears itself from the back of her throat, and she’d be more embarrassed if she were capable of it, but there’s no room for embarrassment when she can feel how hard his heart is thumping against his chest. He splays one hand against her back, pushing her closer to him, while the other hand tangles itself in her hair. “Stunning,” he mumbles into her mouth. She lets out a quick laugh, and then he’s pulling away to mouth at her neck, and her laugh ends in a gasp. She tilts her head back and presses even closer to him, giving him more access to the expanse of her neck. Every thought she’s ever had seems to disappear; all she knows now is the frustratingly gentle feathering of his lips against the column of her neck, the teasing sinking of his teeth into her collarbone, and the soothing sweep of his tongue that follows.

Eventually, she gathers enough brain cells to press her fingers into his chest and whisper, “Your heart is racing.”

“Heart’s on the other side, princess,” he responds, the words muffled into her collarbone. When he breathes out and heat fans across the hollow of her threat, she trembles and mindlessly acquiesces.

Then, her muddled thoughts clear and she draws her hand away from his chest to smack at his shoulder. “No it’s not, you liar. You almost got me there for a second.”

He laughs and rests his forehead against her shoulder. “You got a little thrown off by what I can do with my mouth, yeah?”

“Shut up,” she whines, hitting his shoulder again. This time, her hand lingers, and then it moves up into his hair to play with the curls there. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Not if I can help it.” He’s pressed so close into her skin that she can feel the huge smile that spreads across his face.

EJ’s booming voice breaks the Ricky haze she’d been in. “Hey, you’re not allowed to go up there!” 

Nini holds her breath at the sound of the boisterous complaints that follow from the group of people on the stairs. Unconsciously, her hand tightens in Ricky’s hair, holding him more firmly against her.

“Probably just some freshmen who don’t know their way around yet,” Ricky whispers, dragging his hands up and down her sides without a care to the people who are about to happen upon them. Her body shudders at the motion, even as she scolds him under her breath.

“Stop that, there could be people coming, you heathen.”

He just shrugs, sliding his arms around her waist instead. “Nah, EJ’ll take care of it.” 

True to form, the voices fade away a minute later, with EJ grumbling about how freshmen are all such nuisances.

“Told ya,” Ricky smirks. He’s prepared to make another quip, but he’s interrupted by his own yawn.

Nini raises an eyebrow at him. “Am I boring you, hotshot?”

He grins at her, suddenly sleepy but still just as enamored as before. “Never, princess. Kinda tired, though. Been a long week, y’know.”

Does she _ever_. Midterms have been killing them, and now that Ricky’s mouth is off of her, she realizes just how tired she is, too. “Maybe a nap would be nice,” she concedes.

“Yeah? Gimme a sec.” Strong arms lift her off of his lap and tuck her into his side, arranging them so that they’re laying down. “We might have to deal with some staring and teasing if we leave from here tomorrow morning,” he begins. 

Her heart warms at his concern. “Please, I can take on a couple of frat brothers.” She snuggles into him and lets him wrap an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll stay.”

Maybe it should be awkward or weird, but it’s not. They fall asleep easily, cocooned in the shared understanding that everything has changed between them now. Neither of them are quite sure what it means, but they hope it’s something good.

* * *

***no thoughts just hockey***

_elton john_ : RICKY DID I JUST SEE YOU AND NINI LEAVE THE HOUSE TOGETHER

_high priestess moon_ : oh my god???? rini!!!

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : tbh i had no faith in u ricky but congrats!! i’m so happy for u guys :D

_dicky_ : guys shut up idk idk idk what we are

 _dicky_ : like. we had a really good talk yesterday and then we made out for a while and then we just fell asleep together and it was? so nice? i mean u already know but i like her so much

_elton john_ : i cannot believe i’m still single while you’re about to not be

_dicky_ : don’t jinx it!!! we haven’t talked about anything yet okay and now we have to go to the community rink for my lesson so idk when to bring it up but oh my god i like her so much

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : #RICKY: no thoughts just nini

_dicky_ : … yeah

_high priestess moon_ : omfg i love this mf song

* * *

When Ricky and Nini show up at the rink, Pia’s coming off the ice from her lesson, and her face lights up at the sight of them. 

“Ricky, Nini!” she yells, running toward them and grabbing one of each of their hands. “Miss Libby wants to talk to you!”

Nini quirks an eyebrow at Ricky over Pia’s house, mouthing _Miss Libby?_ at him. _Skating coach_ , he mouths back.

Miss Libby offers them a bright smile when they reach her. “Hi Ricky, good to see you as always. And you must be Nini! Pia talks about you all the time.”

Nini smiles shyly and squeezes Pia’s hand in hers. “Yeah, that’s me. Pia said you wanted to talk to us?”

“Yes! I saw you out here teaching Ricky the other week, and I couldn’t help but watch. I know Ricky’s not a figure skater, but he was so kind to step in for us when one of the older kids broke his ankle, and then I saw you skating together, and I just thought it’d be so lovely if you would join the show, too? No pressure, obviously, but I think the show would look cleaner if Ricky had someone his size out there with him.”

Nini laughs at the mental image of 6-foot, college senior Ricky Bowen, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the eight- and twelve-year-olds. Then, she takes a moment to consider what’s actually being asked of her. “Do you mean you want us to do pairs skating, or?”

“A little bit! Most of what I’m envisioning just has you two skating the same routine that you taught Ricky, with a few extra pairs moves…” Miss Libby continues her explanation, but Nini’s already made up her mind. Pia’s got the biggest puppy dog eyes trained on her, and Nini was a goner from the start.

“That sounds doable to me,” she says, smiling helplessly down at Pia. 

Fifteen minutes later, the details are sketched out, and Nini’s scheduling two-a-weeks for her and Ricky to nail down the routine in the next two weeks. 

“Thanks for doing this,” Ricky says quietly to her. They’re just warming up, skating circles around the rink.

She shrugs. “A deal’s a deal.”

“No, I mean _this_ , the whole pairs skating thing, and you joining the show… that’s way beyond what I asked you for all those weeks ago.” Ricky wants to say that _they’re_ way different than they were all those weeks ago, too, but he finds himself suddenly fearful of saying anything. They’re in such a good place right now, and he’s convinced he’ll jinx it if he tries to press her any further about what the hell is going on between them. Are they friends? Sure. Are they friends who kiss sometimes? Maybe. Does he want to be more than that? Yes, more than anything. But he’s had a crush on this girl since the first day she skated circles around him, and he’s been content living like that for three years now. He can wait a little longer.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal. Anything for Pia.” Nini beams up at the stands, where Pia’s braids are bobbing as the little girl dances around to the music playing over the speakers in the rink.

Ricky’s heart melts into itself with helpless adoration; they’re his two favorite girls in the world. “I’m really happy you guys get along,” he admits. “Pia and I… we haven’t always had the easiest relationship. Just like you and me, I guess.”

Nini’s jaw drops. “Really? But you love each other so much!”

He snorts. “I didn’t know she existed until three years ago. Pia’s technically my half-sister; my parents got divorced when I was in middle school, and my mom kind of cut off all communication with my dad. She had Pia very soon after the divorce, and I didn’t meet her until I came out here for college. My mom and her new husband live nearby. I don’t really like him, to be honest, and my relationship with my mom is still kinda weird, but Pia…” A tender smile spreads across his face. “Pia’s perfectly innocent in all of this. I love her to the ends of the earth.”

Nini reaches her hand out to him; he stumbles a little when he tries to catch onto her hand and sync up their skating, but he manages it after a few seconds. “Thanks for telling me, Ricky,” she murmurs. “And, if you want, you can talk to me anytime about this stuff. I can’t pretend to know what it’s like, but I’d like to listen, all the same.”

His eyes go all soft and affectionate and the tips of his ears turn red as he squeezes her hand in his, a silent _thank you_.

“Don’t get too comfortable, though,” she teases. “If we’re going to do some of this pairs skating stuff, you’ll have to keep up with me.”

He grins at her. “Oh yeah? Just watch me.”

She hums noncommittally and speeds up, tossing a “Try to hold on!” over her shoulder as the space between them grows and he struggles to hold onto her hand. Quickly, he finds himself tripping over that damn toe pick again. As he lies there on the ice, bruises already beginning to form, he decides that he’d spend every Saturday morning tripping over his own feet if it meant that Nini and Pia’s laughter would accompany him like this, echoing joyfully throughout the rink.

* * *

***the cutting edge cinematic universe***

_nay nay_ : so. before u all bombard me about last night. yes ricky and i disappeared together yes we made out for a while yes we fell asleep together also somehow i got roped into doing some very basic pairs skating with him for his sister’s show so carlos can u stop by and help us on wednesday 

_carLOSING IT_ : very bold of nini to make me read a whole ass essay after i drank approximately my body weight in champagne last night but i saw rini and i came running

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : i’m never drinking again

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : u say that now but i know you’ll be back for the pre-break new year’s eve etc. party

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : ur not wrong

_carLOSING IT_ : can u all FOCUS. rini!!!

_all love in these kourts_ : wait so what are you guys now? dating? fwb? enemies with benefits?

_nay nay_ : NO oh my god no we haven’t been enemies for a long time plus i am not that childish

_all love in these kourts_ : i distinctly remember u yelling about treason in this gc last month so lemme disagree with that

_nay nay_ : … well anyways

 _nay nay_ : idk what we are now

 _nay nay_ : i just? like hanging out with him a lot? and i like kissing him a lot? and i like doing both at the same time?

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : call me crazy but it sounds like u want to date him

_nay nay_ : i would never call u crazy babie ily :D

 _nay nay_ : uh but idk if he wants to date me

_all love in these kourts_ : do u… maybe have… worms on the brain 

_all love in these kourts_ : tf u mean u don’t KNOW if he wants to date u???

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : as someone who watches the ricky-and-nini show every other day in physiology for 65 minutes straight, i can say with full confidence that ricky has always looked at u like ur the only person in the world

_nay nay_ : omg really????

 _nay nay_ : idk tho guys

 _nay nay_ : we only ever kiss at parties, when we’ve both had a little to drink. like what if he only wants to kiss me when it’s dark and we’ve played a game of pong

_carLOSING IT_ : first of all ricky’s not like that

 _carLOSING IT_ : second of all can u guys stop winning pong so often i’m tired of playing just the two of u

_nay nay_ : sry ur hand-eye coordination sucks wish i could relate :/

_carLOSING IT_ : i hate u.

 _carLOSING IT_ : also just talk to him abt it!! communication is key

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : it rly is :D

* * *

_Communication is key, communication is key, communication is key_. Unbeknownst to either of them, this thought runs through Ricky and Nini’s heads on a loop for the next two weeks. 

There are endless _almost_ s and _what-if_ s between the two of them; a litany of aborted moments where one of them almost brings it up and then retreats at the last moment. But she’s scared to even insinuate that he would want to date her after their rocky past, and he thinks he might scare her off with the intensity of three years of built up longing. 

So, they continue on like this, stuck in that uniquely liminal space of the college hookup. As the date of Pia’s show approaches, it gets harder to ignore what's between them. His hands are always _on_ her, supporting her in a simple lift or holding on to her in a turn sequence. She’s always in his space, pressing her hands against his chest in the final pose of their routine or nudging his knee back into place when he wobbles on a certain move. They’re so damn _close_ , all the time, but it’s never as close as they want to be.

“I’m going to have to go make out with Seb after watching the two of you make eyes at each other throughout this practice,” Carlos complains, throwing a towel at Ricky in the locker room.

Ricky laughs. “Be my guest, I’m not stopping you.”

Carlos scowls and picks up the towel. “Seriously, why don’t you just _talk_ to her about it? There are obviously feelings between the two of you, so what’s there to lose?”

“A lot.” Ricky sighs. “I’ve liked her since freshman year, you know? The way she skated was just… magical. And then she always stood up for her team, and she never backed down on what was rightfully hers, and I dunno, the more I was around her, the more I found things to like. But that’s just me. She hasn’t spent the same amount of time liking me, and I don’t want to pressure her into anything, or make it seem like I’m rushing into things.”

“It’s been, what, almost two months since you two first kissed? And almost a month since the second time? You’ve been practically attached at the hip since she started giving you figure skating lessons, and that was a long time ago. I’d say that you’re just confusing her now by not saying anything.”

“Isn’t it obvious that I like her?”

“To _us_ , yeah. But to her? No.” Carlos shakes his head sagely. “Nini’s very smart, but when it comes to stuff like this, she’s hopeless. She dated her first girlfriend for three weeks before she realized they were dating. You have to spell these things out for her, Ricky. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow for Pia’s show. I think all of our teams are going. Who wouldn’t want to see Ms. Ice Princess and Mr. Hockey Hotshot skate together, right?” He grins and pats Ricky on the shoulder comfortingly before he leaves. “Have a little courage, Ricky. Nini’s not that scary.”

Ricky considers Carlos’s words, some of which are true and some of which are just blatantly false. Nini is absolutely that scary; she’s _terrifying_ , even more so now that she truly holds his pathetic little heart in her hands. But he knows her, and he knows that she cries every time when Casey’s mom shows up in the stands for her daughter’s show in Ice Princess, and he knows that she drinks coffee so slowly that it’s never hot by the time she actually wants to drink it, and he knows that her favorite pair of socks is fuzzy and has little unicorns on them, so yeah, maybe she’s not that scary after all.

Later that night, she FaceTimes him while they ostensibly work on a problem set for orgo. But she’s taking a break to dance to ABBA in her bedroom, and he’s watching her do so with the biggest grin on his face, covalent bonds be damned.

He interrupts her dancing with a quiet, “Hey, Nini?” 

She collapses back down into her desk chair with a breathless laugh. “What’s up, hotshot?” 

“You mean a lot to me,” he says, trying to imbue the words with as much force as he can.

She just blinks at him, curious at the sudden change in mood. “You mean a lot to me, too, Ricky. Seriously, I know we got off to a bad start, but you’re one of my favorite people in the whole world, now.”

He smiles helplessly; it’s clear that she isn’t getting what he means, but he can’t be mad at her for it, because she’s trying so hard to understand. “Thanks, Nini. You’re my favorite, too. Hey, I’m going to head to sleep now, but I’ll see you first thing tomorrow at the rink?”

“Of course, Pia’s counting on us! Good night, baby, have sweet dreams, mmkay?” Her smile freezes at the accidental pet name, and then the entire screen freezes for a second before it goes blank as she ends the call.

  
 _Baby?_ His brain short-circuits at the word and he wants to call her back at once, to ask what it means and to ask if she’s finally, finally on the same page as him. But it’s almost 2am and Pia really does need them tomorrow, so he resolves to text his hockey teammates about a half-baked plan to woo a fully terrifying girl, and then he falls asleep with _baby_ echoing in his mind.

* * *

The next morning, Ricky is jittery and bouncing on his toes with unexpended energy. Nini has to practically press him down by the shoulders to keep him grounded, although maybe he exaggerates his bouncing a little bit just to keep her hands on him longer. In any case, she’s all soothing words of encouragement and sincere compliments on how far he’s come in his two-month figure skating career; at the last minute, she throws in a quip about how she’s the best coach in the world, and he just has to stop and smile dopily at her for a bit, because she really is the best.

Right before they’re about to step onto the ice, Nini squeezes his hand in hers and raises up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “Ready for the biggest moment of your career?” 

He winks at her. “I was born ready, babe.” 

When they enter the rink, Nini’s bright pink from the pet name, and Ricky’s feeling pretty damn good about his plan.

Their routine goes off without a hitch; they skate in perfect tandem, like two forces in exact opposition, two halves of a split atom. At the end, all the kids get a standing ovation, and Ricky abandons all propriety to lift Pia up onto his shoulders and parade her around the rink. When he comes back to take his bows with Nini, Pia’s braids have come undone from the excitement, and Ricky quickly redoes the braids before taking Nini’s hand and bowing with her. Their friends whoop and holler and cheer in a way that suits a hockey game more than a figure skating show, but it’s all their favorite people, and Miss Libby doesn’t seem to mind.

It’s just a show for little kids, but Nini’s grinning as if they’d just won championships. Something about this— all their friends gathered to cheer them on, all the little kids staring adoringly up at her and Ricky, adrenaline buzzing through her veins from the performance and the feeling that whatever is between her and Ricky is about to come to a head— feels so boundlessly perfect, so infinitely wonderful. It’s the purest kind of happiness.

At some point in between hugging Ricky and congratulating the other skaters on a job well done, Pia taps Nini on the shoulder and motions for her to look up into the stands. Nini’s jaw drops and her heart picks up speed alarmingly fast. All their friends and various members of their teams are holding up signs with letters on them; the whole spectacle spells out “WANNA BE MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD OFFICIALLY?” Between Ashlyn and EJ, “officially” is missing a letter, but it’s the sweetest and dumbest thing in the world, so Nini knows it can only be the doing of one person.

She turns to see Ricky holding the biggest box of hair ties she’s ever seen and her favorite smile of his— toothy, wide, eyes-crinkled-at-the-corners-with-joy.

“Nini Salazar-Roberts, you’re magic. You never have a hair tie and you’re really bad at hockey, but you kick ass at drinking games and you kick my ass any time we’re on the ice, so I guess it’s okay. I hate that you always let your coffee go cold because it’s really gross by the time you drink it, but I’ll bring you hot coffee to class every day if you want. I like the way you skate and I like the way you stand your ground even more, and I think we probably have a silly argument at least once a day, but I like that, too. You’re magic, and I like you a lot, and you can read so you know what I’m about to ask, but I’ll ask anyways: would you like to be my favorite person in the world officially?”

Nini doesn’t respond verbally; she skates her fastest over to Ricky and jumps up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and laughing at this absurd, fantastic boy. He drops the box of hair ties and holds her close, giggling into her hair. “I like you so much, Ricky Bowen, let’s be each other’s favorites for a long time, okay?”

“Maybe forever?”

“Maybe forever.”

* * *

It goes like this: Ricky brings the hockey team and his whole frat house to the figure skating team’s next competition, and they pack the stands from end to end. Nini’s eyes go wide and then teary at how much this boy only wants her to be happy for as long as she lives, and then her heart goes supernova at the realization that that’s what she wants for him, too.

It goes like this: Nini and Pia paint each other’s nails before shows and competitions, and Nini teaches Ricky increasingly elaborate ways to braid his sister’s hair. Sometimes Ricky and Nini will show up at the end of Pia’s skating lessons and goof around on the ice with her (Ricky does most of the goofing around), and then afterwards they’ll all go out to get ice cream together. Ricky always gets brain freeze because he’s impatient, but Nini will kiss ice cream off of his mouth when Pia isn’t looking, so it’s worth it.

It goes like this: Nini shows up to Ricky’s frat’s New Year’s Eve Etc. party (so called because it is many eves before New Year’s Eve) with a bottle of peach moscato in hand and a mischievous smile that she presses into the curve of his, and when the countdown starts, they kiss for thirty seconds straight, tucked away on the window seat on the third floor.

It goes like this: Sometimes Ricky gets morose and apologetic about the emotional baggage he carries from his mom’s behavior after the divorce, and Nini just hums quietly and hugs him close, running her fingers through his hair and promising that she likes him just the way he is, baggage and all. 

It goes like this: He says _I love you_ first and admits that he’s had a crush on her since freshman year, and she teases him to no end about the crush but carefully tells him that she’s not ready to say that back to him yet. He just shrugs and says he doesn’t mind meeting her where she is, and she kisses him urgently and promises that she’ll meet him where he is, too, eventually.

It goes like this: she’s his favorite person in the whole world, and he’s her favorite person in the whole world. When she feels ready to tell him that she loves him, she can barely wait until the end of his practice before she’s slipping and sliding across the rink in her sneakers to yell it to him. He leaves all his hockey stuff on the ice and zooms over to her, picking her up and smothering her in kisses wherever he can reach. Later, he asks her if they can make out underneath their trophies in the locker room, because he’s always wanted to do that, and this— her loving him, him loving her— is the biggest win of his life. 

* * *

***when ricky and nini stop making out at parties we’ll finally know peace***

_yeehaw matthew-smith_ : okay nobody freak out but ricky and nini are hooking up in the locker room 

_carLOSING it_ : OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

 _carLOSING it_ : WHAT DID I SAY LITERALLY WHAT DID I SAY I TOLD U ALL THIS WOULD HAPPEN AND U DIDN’T BELIEVE ME

 _carLOSING it_ : oh ye of little faith. what does it feel like to be wrong? i wouldn’t know but i’m just curious

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : can they hurry up already i need to pee

_gina, not 17, still the dancing queen_ : again?

_red, taylor swift’s best album_ : wdym AGAIN peeing is a regular occurrence gina

_all love in these kourts_ : ash why don’t we ever hook up in the locker room

_high priestess moon_ : bc we have more taste than that?

_all love in these kourts_ : not gonna argue with u there

_elton john_ : if they are hooking up anywhere near my locker i am going to riot

**Author's Note:**

> hope u liked that!! i was kinda stuck on this one for a while bc all i had was the title and the concept of hockey player + figure skater but i wasn't really sure what direction i wanted to take it in, and then it just got so mf LONG. tbh i think this suffered from its length but anyways lmk if u liked this and if u had any favorite parts— the comments across all my work have been not only bright spots of encouragement, but also insightful looks into the writing that show me what works and what doesn't, and i've really appreciated that. every hit, kudos, comment, and bookmark makes me really happy, so thank u so much for that!!
> 
> if u enjoyed this foray into enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, maybe u would be into my longform rini fic? it's rivals-to-loversish? it is my baby bc it's where i have enough space to actually expand on characterizations, themes, plots, development, etc. no one speak to me abt how it hasn't been updated in over a month
> 
> lastly: would ppl be interested in doing a fic challengeof sorts? i figured it'd be nice if we could get a bunch of writers together to write oneshots based on a set of themed prompts/tropes? lmk if this sounds like something you'd wanna do! i floated the idea on twitter and i’m probably going to post the challenge itself some time in the next weeks :D


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